Depression, Anxiety and Self-Esteem

Depression 

Depression is more than just sadness that everyone will feel at times. Clinical depression does not disappear in a day or a few days, it will last for a significant period of time. A person who is depressed will experience depressive negative thoughts and physical and emotional symptoms. 

Symptoms of depression may include: depressed mood; loss of interest in pleasurable activties; feelings or worthlessness or guilt; irritability; fatigue or loss of energy; reduced ability to concentrate; changes in weight and changes in sleep pattern.

Treatments for depression include antidepressant medications, psychotherapy or a combination of both. Your GP will be able to provide you with advice on treatment options.

Psychotherapy for depression explores and treats the symptoms of depression by examining behaviours, thoughts and emotions. It is more than just talking, it is about learning new skills and strategies to deal with the symptoms and problems. In therapy we will discuss what depression is and how it impacts your thoughts, emotions and behaviours. Gaining an understanding is very important as this allows us to identify realistic and achievable goals. Particular attention is focused on negative thinking and beliefs, and developing new adaptive ways of thinking. Coping with stress can be difficult for a person with depression, learning relaxation and mindfulness strategies can improve a persons ability to cope with worry and stress.

Anxiety

Anxiety is an emotional reaction of worry, apprehension and nervousness, generally it involved uncertainty about a situation or a possible outcome. While mild anxiety levels can improve performance, high anxiety levels can detract form performance.

Symptoms of anxiety may include: worry; negative thoughts; avoidance; irritabilty; restlessness; nausea; hyperventilating; rapid heart rate; dizziness; sweating and shaking or trembling.

Treatments for anxiety include antidepressant medications, psychotherapy or a combination of both. Your GP will be able to provide you with advice on treamtent options.

Psychotherapy for anxiety explores and treats the symptoms of anxiety by examining behaviours, thoughts and emotions. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for anxiety. The focus of CBT is on changing negative thoughts (cognitions), and changing behaviours which then in turn lead to a change in emotions. CBT identifies unhelpful thoughts, behavioural patterns and negative self-beliefs and promotes change to more helpful thoughts and behaviours which leads to a positive change in a persons beliefs. Therapy is about developing new skills and strategies to cope with anxiety, worry and stress. At Aspire Psychology relaxation and mindfulness strategies are an important part of the treatment to help reduce anxiety, worry and stress

Self-Esteem and Assertiveness

People with a healthy self-esteem like and value themselves, they will see themselves as a worthwhile person. Self-esteem has a tremendous impact on our live, our health, our happiness and our well-being. People with low self-esteem are more likely to be unhappy and disatisfied and are more prone to psychological issues including depression, anxiety, stress, relationship issues and substance abuse. Low self-esteem prevents people from setting and achieving goals, and leads to low self-confidence. Many people with low self-esteem will also have difficulties in being assertive, whether thats at home with family, at work with colleagues or bosses and/or with people generally.

Psychotherapy can assist you to explore the origins oy low self-esteem, whether it developed due to experiences in childhood, or related to particular experiences in adulthood. Understanding patterns of behaviour a person has developed and how a person relates to other people is important. Once this is identified and understood by the client and therapist, realistic and achieveable goals can be developed.

People with low self-esteem and low assertiveness often have difficulty saying no to others, and this often leads them to put their own needs second, this may lead to low moods, irritability and/or resentment. Therapy assists in learning how to value yourself, being able to see positives about yourself, and to be assertive and stand up for yourself. This in turn improves self-confidence and the ability to achieve your personal goals. It can have positive effects on your level of contentment and well-being and your satisfaction with relationships with others.